On Wednesday morning, NJPW announced that Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI would be departing NJPW. They will finish up on May 4th at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku.
According to Tokyo Sports, "Naito requested to leave on March 3 but was persuaded to stay by the organization until early on the 16th, when his departure was approved and announced the same day."
The report also states, BUSHI "had initially signed a new contract but stormed into Naito’s contract renewal meeting to declare his own departure."
BUSHI told Tokyo Sports, “If Naito wasn’t signing, I’d already decided I’d leave too. I couldn’t envision myself in NJPW’s ring without Naito."
He continued, "I didn’t expect the contract to actually be terminated, but nothing’s decided yet. As of today, I’ve got offers from Gamma, Gurukun Mask, and Asuka Pro Wrestling, so I’ll think them over."
Naito said his future plans are completely blank.
"I was torn about whether it was okay to leave until the last moment. Just a few months ago, I thought I’d only leave NJPW when I retired from wrestling," said Naito.
Fightful Select has more details on Naito's departure.
Fans can read Hiroshi Tanahashi's comments on Naito leaving NJPW by clicking here.
